Human Pincushion and Visa Faff

Long time, no post.

I'm officially crap at this blogging business. I've done so much the last 6 months and managed one, sad, solitary post since I started work at Accy. I suppose if you're too busy to blog that's a good sign, right?

Lets have a catch up, if you make it to the end, you win! I don't know what yet...

January:
I started my new job at Accrington Academy in the middle of the coldest winter in a squillion years. My first week of work consisted of three days in school and two snow days, lots of sledging and the culture shock of being an NQT. I realised that Accy was going to be nothing like much of my teaching experience, but this was all to the good and I genuinely (in spite of the odd off day) loved working there.
February:
Mostly consisted of working my butt off. I had a jolly to London to visit Mindy for her birthday, lots of cocktails were had and sore heads were felt in the morning! My trip also involved seeing the bold Duffodil who was doing a Masters in Saving the World at the LSE. We took a trip round all the H&M's in London for me to buy some hawt work clothes. This trip also involved the purchase of a hand-wash only cashmere jumper which I adore. I'm sad that I didn't knit it myself, but more of the knitting later, yes?


March:
I greatly enjoyed the NSR this year, Friday night is a bit of a blur, but I'm told I had a good night. Judging by the Wallace and Gromit impressions I'm doing in most of the photos, I was a very happy bunny. I was also greatly enjoying my shexy new Alpkit Skyehigh 1000 down sleeping bag and Fat Airic carry mat. I stayed in bed till roughly lunchtime on Saturday, relishing the position of not having any responsibility for the first time in 5 years.
Saturday night was a more sedate night for me on the drinking front, which my liver greatly appreciated, but was still an epic night for catching up with folk, dancing and wearing a toga. The ground was frozen solid when we eventually got back to our tent and I was beyond happy that I'm no longer allowed to paddle!April:
BIRTHDAY MONTH! Oh yeah, a grand trip to Berlin was planned to see Cassia and enjoy the delights of Germany for the first time. Due to a mix up between laptop bags and passports, the planned trip was not to be, but instead we did a tour of Southern Scotland, taking in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. Plus Ollie wasn't allowed to complain when I spent a happy half-hour in K1 Yarns and bought some tres lovely Artesano Alpaca for the purposes of making my first beret. I genuinely had a fantastic time, and it was my first time in Edinburgh as a "proper" tourist. We went on the Real Mary Kings Close walk (several stories below the streets of Edinburgh), pottered round the Castle, went to Stirling Castle and met Godzilla Cat and sampled the delights of the Whisky Experience and tottered unsteadily back to our hotel.
I also managed to tick off one of the things I've wanted to do for years, learn to Lindy Hop! Ollie and I signed up to classes at LUDUS in Lancaster and went along every Thursday to have a boogie. It was so much fun and it's nice to be able to dance, you'd be amazed at what you can dance to in a swing-dance-stylee!


May:
Saw three lovely ladies descend on Lancaster for a weekend of fun and frolics and miniature sheep. Mindy, Ash and Sarah came up, over and across to see my new little house, drink some gin and dance like eejits at Hustle. It was the start of a lovely half-term week but unfortunately I got rather ill towards the end of it and ended up with one of the worst chest infections I've had since I was a first year.

June:
Started badly. First day back at work saw me losing my voice in the first lesson and hacking up a lung by the end of the day. It was also the day that OFSTED decided to call giving us 36 hours notice of an official inspection that was apparently long over due. I had to take the Tuesday off to go to the doctor who recommended that I take the rest of the week off. This meant I had to call my headmaster and tell him that I wasn't going to be in during the most stressful week a teacher can face. I still feel awful for letting the department down, but I don't think it would have helped them if the newest member of staff was found to be sitting with her head in her hands while the kids rioted round her.

July:
I feel a little bad, but a lot of July was spent counting down to the summer holiday. We booked a trip round Eastern Europe and I was beyond excited about going. The itinerary took in Munich, Prutz, Innsbruck, Vienna, Budapest, Brasov and Bucharest via train and MAN, I love my interrail pass. We took night trains, drank tuica, ate WAY too much, enjoyed 80p pints, dramatic thunderstorms, sunny days and absolutely, utterly beautiful countryside and spectacular cities. I would go back to Romania in a heartbeat.



August:
We came back from holiday, only to get straight into the next phase of our travels. Oh yes, I'm not planning on spending this term doing supply work, I'm going to be teaching English in a nursery in BANGALORE! In INDIA! Ollie has the chance to do some of his PhD at the ISI in Bangalore and he's taking me along for the ride. I'm so excited, though we were meant to be leaving tonight (around half an hour ago, in point of fact) but our visas haven't arrived. I'll be blogging from BANGALORE (I'm very excited, didn't I say) because I'm only working in the mornings and I'd very much like a record of the trip. We'll be away for three months and should come back before Christmas, unless Nepal calls us seductively enough. The Human Pincushion part of the title refers to the fact that when I booked in to get my injections for India, I found that the NHS have lost all of my vaccination records apart from the ones I had at 3 months and 6 years old. I have had to have my jabs for Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio, Tiphoid, Hep A, Hep B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella. Most of these require more than one injection and my arms have been SORE. Not impressed, but at least I'm up-to-date...

Various other things have happened in the last few months. I'd tried to get in touch with my uncle before Christmas to try and find out what had happened to my mum's ashes after her funeral. After a long wait, a lot of confusion and a surprise phone call, I found out that he'd kept them so that I could deal with them when I was ready. It's come at the perfect time because I'm able to take some of the ashes to India to scatter in the Indian Ocean, just down the coast from Goa. I'll be scattering the rest at Dollar Glen with her friends in the Spring, but I think that my mum, a seasoned traveller would have appreciated having some of her rest somewhere so exotic and beautiful.

Phew, I'm tired now, and I'll bet you are too. I'll be keeping this updated more, especially once we get to the bustling metropolis of BANGALORE. I'll also be chuntering on about the silk yarn I'll be buying once I'm out there, but like I said, I'll do another post regarding knitting when I can focus properly on the words I'm typing.

Nighty night!